Page 274 of Commander’s Mate

I hated the order.

I obeyed it.

The final shuttle lifted with rescued prisoners sitting on the deck between armored warriors. Lio Tarven clung to the front of my chest plate with both hands.

Below us, Breskaa burned in places.

Above us waited two dreadnoughts, hundreds of rescued people—and Harper.

We had not saved everyone.

We had saved these.

Chapter Forty

Harper

Our dreadnoughts had not been built for passengers. They were built for war, but by the time the Breskaa operation began every comfortable space had been turned into something useful.

Passenger lounges became triage wards. Dining compartments became intake stations. Decorative partitions came down. Guards stood at every access point.

I worked in Protected Intake Two with Zoe, three Farseek clerks, two Haloran med-techs, and a translator from one of the earlier rescue groups.

The first shuttle was seven minutes late.

No one said it.

Everyone knew.

When the doors finally opened, the smell hit first: mine dust, blood, burned fabric, bodies that had not been washed properly in too long, and fear so thick it had weight.

For half a second I was back on the slave ship.

Then the first rescued man stumbled through and I had no time to be anywhere but here.

A med-tech reached for his elbow. He jerked away.

“No restraints,” I said. “Hands visible. Slow.”

I stepped where he could see me. “You are aboard Dreadnought One under Farseek protection. You are not being sold. We need your name because we are trying to find your people.”

After that, the world became names.

Names and injuries. Names and missing children. Names whispered by people who had not heard anyone ask kindly in months or years. The registry filled faster than we could process it.

The fifth shuttle arrived under red alarm.

Then command traffic broke into overlapping voices.

Team Four pinned. Lower grid unstable. Enemy carrier early. Shuttle Seven damaged. Commander Maktu—

Static swallowed the rest.

My blood went cold.

“Repeat last transmission.”

Nothing.